Is Donny Cates the next Stan Lee

Is Donny Cates the next Stan Lee?

Before you auto-flame, hear me out.
With regard to Stan Lee as: a comic book writer responsible for creating characters and stories that are talked about, years after released; an ambassador for comics beyond its core base; a great promoter for comics in general, and Marvel in particular–does Donny fit the bill?

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Wayyyyyyyy to early to even give that one debate. He’s been writing for Marvel for a couple of years. None of his characters have gone on to do anything yet.

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I do think this question has been in the back of the minds of some seeing just how popular Cates story arcs and some of his characters have become so good question to bring to up for debate.

So for me, short answer no. Long answer maybe with an *. If he can remain at this level of popularity or close to it long term and keep creating characters that stick with an occasional “generational” creation, maybe those just starting collecting will look at him with as such an icon as Stan Lee. That’s going to take some time.

Stan Lee is a legend and created or co-created so many of the characters that are cherished the world over. Cates is off to a good start but he has to keep it up for…a looong time. I would suspect it is hard to be a constant hit machine but we will see.

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Cates doesn’t even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Stan. What has Cates done that would make you even consider that? I can’t think of one long term character that Cates has created. CGR, hybrid one shot character who isn’t even new, it’s just Frank Castle with the Ghost Rider moniker. Knull, still hasn’t really done anything, and knulls origins don’t even make sense. A planet made up my f Symbiotes is silly, imo. As if the Nova Corp, or somebody else, hadnt realized, in the past, that this planet wasn’t actually a planet, but it was one giant symbiote glob. Black Winter is dead.
Cates has a long long long long long long long long long long way to go before he reaches Stan status. PS. Cates will never reach Stan status, imo.

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Maybe this is slightly off topic or a controversial take. But Stan Lee very much had Jack Kirby co-driving a good deal of what was created… Just thinking he bares some mentioning given this particular topic

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Fair point. And I wonder if Cates will eventually be mentioned alongside Shaw/Stegman/Moore/etc in much the same way.

Oh God, he’s already better!

Cates’ popularity boomed within the last few months with Thor #5 and Venom #25. People started saying your crazy if you aren’t buying Cates’ books because his books were spiking in value. I’m not sure if that will be true anymore when stores are ordering very heavy on Thor and Venom and everybody is doing an exclusive.

There will never be anyone that had the effect that a Lee, Kirby, etc had because they laid the foundation and building block characters. It’s just a different industry.

In the last say 30 years, how many characters are synonymous with their creators with DC/Marvel?

Venom with McFarlane and Liefeld with Deadpool. That’s really all I can think of where it’s well known.

You don’t think of Micheline with Carnage. Or who created Harley for the animated series. You don’t think of Bendis with Miles. Etc

It’s just not the same industry anymore.

And as mentioned above Stan does get a tad more credit then he deserves sometimes as he was the poster boy for Marvel. Guys like Kirby, Ditko, etc…don’t quite get the recognition they deserve.

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I don’t like comparing people to others in same field. Different times and difference scenarios. It’s all what ifs.

Cates is Cates while Lee is Lee. Let them stand out respectfully on their own. They both had/have good qualities and bad qualities.

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No. Check back in 20 years.

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There’s similarities and you can’t deny it. Both are human males in the comic industry. Stan & Jack created a lot of the classic characters that are still around 60+ years later. He wasn’t the best writer but did create all those characters.

Cates I have only read a bit of his stuff and it’s okay at best. He’s not Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison or any other iconic writer though. He shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath to be honest.

He’s the current flavor for some reason which is baffling. All that buildup for Black Winter and poof he’s a snowflake. We should be talking about some of the other excellent writers who are killing it.

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Agreed.

I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about Ewing considering his years of consistently entertaining and thought provoking work. Immortal Hulk is phenomenal, he’s told some solid Avengers stories across a variety of runs, plus created the 616 Ultimates; and is now shaping the cosmic side of Marvel with their New Space Age.

TOBA and the Green Door, Lifebringer Galactus and the First Firmament, the evolution of A.I.M, and the Kree-Skrull alliance are all more significant changes to the Marvel universe than anything Cates has written so far.

Most of Cates’ additions are reverted, or made irrelevant by the end of his runs. I’m enjoying his work, but he’s certainly just flavour of the month so far and has a long way to go before he can even be considered alongside Stan and Jack.

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Yeah, the great Jack Kirby gets overlooked far too often. Kirby also died years before the films made these characters even more famous than they already were. I do think Kirby will have his day. Eternals is on the horizon for Marvel and New Gods for DC will still make its way to the big screen. More will know his name after they are released.

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Until Dylan is actually a real character, no. Tynion is a better writer than Cates at the moment. cates is great at the fluff that drives sales but lacking in the developing said characters department.

Donny Cates is all hype from speculators. Prove me wrong :sunglasses:

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Immortal Hulk is nothing special now tho. Started hot, not so much anymore

That is from a speculators perspective, @MacCready. Ewings story in his current Hulk run is just really culminating now. It’s as good as ever, imo.

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I personally think Cates has gotten a little full of himself the past year or so but with that I do enjoy reading his books. They are fun reads if not overwhelmingly deep. At the end of the day that is really all that matters…it is nice that many of them have gone up to the point I can make a few bucks on them if I feel like it.

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Yeah, I am still enjoying the run quite a bit. From a spec stand point, I do think it will see heat again down the road.